Indulging The Left’s Historical Revisionism Has Consequences
By promoting these false histories, we move from unpacking our flawed past to politicizing it to beat our ideological opponents.
It's come out recently that a French-speaking school board in Ontario, Canada, held a book burning in 2019 as an act of reconciliation with Indigenous people, the National Post reported — but now there's oeuf all over their faces.
Called a "flame purification" ceremony, the Conseil scolaire catholique Providence burned about 30 books for "educational purposes," the Post reported — citing Radio Canada which first disclosed the act — after which the ashes were used as fertilizer to plant a tree.
"We bury the ashes of racism, discrimination and stereotypes in the hope that we will grow up in an inclusive country where all can live in prosperity and security," a video prepared for students about the book burning said, according to the Post, citing Radio Canada.
In the end, more than 4,700 books were removed from library shelves at 30 schools, and they've all been destroyed or are in the process of being recycled, the Post said, citing Radio Canada.
The project was intended "to make a gesture of openness and reconciliation by replacing books in our libraries that had outdated content and carried negative stereotypes about First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people," the Post added.
However, Lyne Cossette, the board's spokesperson, told the outlet, "We regret that we did not intervene to ensure a more appropriate plan for the commemorative ceremony and that it was offensive to some members of the community. We sincerely regret the negative impact of this initiative intended as a gesture of reconciliation."
One might be inclined to assume that far-left Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would have no problem burning books that get in the way of the woke movement.
After all, he's on the record as saying free speech "is not without limits" following last year's grisly murders in a French church amid worldwide Muslim anger over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. And in 2018, he publicly corrected a woman at a town hall in British Columbia because she didn't use gender-inclusive language.
But even Trudeau views the book burning as the faux pas it was.
Trudeau said it's not the job of non-Indigenous people "to tell Indigenous people how they should feel or act to advance reconciliation. On a personal level, I would never agree to the burning of books," the Post reported.
Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois, at a press conference said, "we don't burn books," according the outlet. He added, "We expose ourselves to history, we explain it, we demonstrate how society has evolved or must evolve," the Post said.
Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole tweeted that a "Conservative government will be committed to reconciliation. But the road to reconciliation does not mean tearing down Canada. I strongly condemn the burning of books," the outlet noted.
The Post, citing Radio Canada, said the 165-page school board document includes analyses of all the books removed from shelves.
More from the outlet:
Among them are classic titles, such as Tintin in America, which was withdrawn for its "negative portrayal of indigenous peoples and offending Aboriginal representation in the drawings."
Also removed were books that allegedly contain cultural appropriation, as well as outdated history books, such as two biographies of Jacques Cartier, a French explorer who mapped the St. Lawrence, and another of explorer Étienne Brûlé.
Monuments were vandalized in four U.S. states over the Thanksgiving holiday, and several were marked with graffiti referring to the LANDBACK campaign for "decolonization" that seeks to return lands to indigenous people.
In one city, businesses were also targeted and covered in anti-Thanksgiving, anti-capitalist messages.
A statue of President Abraham Lincoln was splashed with red paint in a park in Spokane, Washington, while in Minneapolis, a statue of President George Washington was toppled.
Fox News reported that a group called the Pan-Indigenous People's Liberation claimed responsibility for damaging the monument to President Washington, along with the defacing of the "Pioneer Statue" in another Minneapolis park that was graffitied with messages that read, "no more genocide," decolonize," and "land back."
Activists in Chicago launched an unsuccessful attempt at toppling a statue of President William McKinley, but left it covered in red spray paint, according to the Daily Mail.
In Portland, Oregon, several businesses were hit by vandals. Pictures of the damage show broken storefront windows and multiple buildings sprayed with the words "land back," "stolen land," "no thanks, no giving," and "colonizer."
Extensive damage was also done to a monument in the city.
USA Today reported:
A monument at Portland's Lone Fir Cemetery, dedicated in 1903 to the veterans of the Civil War, Mexican, Spanish, and Indian wars, was tagged with anti-colonialism graffiti and its statue toppled and sprayed with red paint.
Photos of the vandalism spread on social media on Thanksgiving Day, though police did not immediately confirm the reports.
Good morning to everyone but colonizers. Especially this one who seems to be having a particularly rough morning do… https://t.co/xoFR8pfj18— Alissa Azar (@Alissa Azar)1606408592.0
The LANDBACK campaign, a project of the NDN Collective, lists four demands on its website's "manifesto":
Dismantle — white supremacy structures that forcefully removed us from our Lands and continue to keep our Peoples in oppression.
a. Bureau of Land Management, National Parks Service
Defund — white supremacy and the mechanisms and systems that enforce it and disconnect us from stewardship of the Land.
a. Police, military industrial complex, Border Patrol, ICE
Return — All public lands back into Indigenous hands.
Consent — Moving us out of an era of consultation and into a new era of policy around Free and Prior Informed Consent.
The closure of Mount Rushmore, return of that land and all public lands in the Black Hills, South Dakota is our cornerstone battle, from which we will build out this campaign. Not only does Mount Rushmore sit in the heart of the sacred Black Hills, but it is an international symbol of white supremacy and colonization.
Two males were caught on video recently walking up to a parked Ontario (Canada) Provincial Police cruiser and smashing it with rocks and a lacrosse stick while officers stayed calm in their seats.
The incident occurred in Caledonia — about 60 miles southwest of Toronto and about the same distance west of Niagara Falls, New York — where tensions regarding an indigenous land dispute have been reemerging, CTV News reported.
It isn't clear when the incident occurred, but video of it was posted Sunday afternoon on OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique's Twitter page.
The officer behind the steering wheel calmly radios that "the male with camo is throwing rocks at us" as a second male dressed in dark clothing walks to the driver-side door, tells the cops to leave, and repeatedly pounds the driver-side window with the butt of a lacrosse stick and uses it to hit the hood.
The clip presumably was recorded on cellphone by an officer in the cruiser's passenger seat.
Image source: Twitter video screenshot via @OPPCommissioner
The male dressed in camouflage soon walks up to the cruiser and chucks a rock at the windshield, which cracks upon impact.
Image source: Twitter video screenshot via @OPPCommissioner
The male in camo also punches the passenger-side window before the first male resumes pounding on the hood — as well as the passenger-side window — with his lacrosse stick.
The whole time the officer on the radio keeps calmly relaying what's going on: "A lacrosse stick is hitting our cruiser."
Finally, when the male with the lacrosse stick returns to the driver-side window to pound it, he appears to take off running as the officer begins to open the door.
Here's the video:
Protestors falsely blamed #OPP for escalation in #Caledonia. Extremely proud of my officers for their professional… https://t.co/DYalUSzxjz— Thomas Carrique (@Thomas Carrique)1603662268.0
"Protestors falsely blamed #OPP for escalation in #Caledonia," Carrique tweeted. "Extremely proud of my officers for their professional and measured response to keep the peace & preserve life while under attack. Arrests continue as members take responsible and sustained enforcement approach."
What the video doesn't show is that while attempting to arrest the assailants, additional protesters targeted the officers, police told CTV News.
Carrique told the station one protester continued to throw pieces of lumber at police — who responded by firing a single round of a rubber, non-lethal projectile, which struck the demonstrator in the leg, after which the demonstrator fled.
Police told CTV News another officer used a Taser to control an aggressive subject, but added it was ineffective due to the person's heavy clothing.
Cops identified the male with the lacrosse stick, and he will be facing charges, OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt confirmed to CTV News, adding that police are trying to identify the male in camouflage clothing.